"Bad trade policies"? Do these include ending any exports from the US, or only those from LDCs identified by the "movement," that is the AFL-CIO and US-based enviro NGOs? Just who is it who is to "democratically" decide which are the "good" and which are the "bad" trade policies? Barkley Rosser -----Original Message----- From: Jeffrey St. Clair <sitka at home.com> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Date: Friday, December 17, 1999 2:37 PM Subject: Sierra Club On It's WTO Activities
>Choice quotes from the Sierra Club on WTO protests:
>
>"The Sierra Club's actions in Seattle were peaceful, legal, and fully
>coordinated with the Seattle Police Department. Contrary to some
>published reports, the Club did not participate in, organize, or condone
>
>either the violence or the civil disobedience."
>
>"Despite the deplorable violence, the message of the peaceful
>demonstrators came through loud and clear."
>
>
>---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ----------------
> Sierra Club Action Daily
> Dec. 15, 1999
>
> "If Seattle proved anything, it is that nongovernmental
>organizations -- such groups as the Sierra Club and Public Citizen --
>have become permanent players on the global trade scene."
>
> Bruce Stokes, National Journal, Dec. 4,
>1999
>
>
> THE BATTLE IN SEATTLE
>
> [See Draft Letter to Editor Below]
>
>
>70,000 protestors brought the mighty World Trade Organization (WTO) to
>its knees at the "Battle in Seattle" from Tuesday, Nov. 30 - Dec. 3.
>The
>Sierra Club joined nearly 50,000 labor, environmental, human rights, and
>
>church activists in a peaceful and legal People's Rally and March for
>Fair Trade on Tuesday, Nov. 30.
>
>Simultaneously, tens of thousands of protestors organized by the Direct
>Action Network linked arms and sat down in the streets surrounding the
>Washington Trade and Convention Center, site of the summit. Their
>peaceful civil disobedience stopped the WTO from meeting on its first
>day. Unfortunately, this demonstration was marred by about 100
>self-described anarchists who rampaged through downtown Seattle,
>smashing
>windows with hammers concealed in their coats. Later that afternoon,
>the
>police moved in with tear gas and rubber bullets to clear the streets of
>
>the sit-in.
>
>A combination of pressure from the protestors outside and internal
>dissension forced the talks to collapse on Friday night, without so much
>
>as a formal communique.
>
>The Sierra Club's actions in Seattle were peaceful, legal, and fully
>coordinated with the Seattle Police Department. Contrary to some
>published reports, the Club did not participate in, organize, or condone
>
>either the violence or the civil disobedience. We are proud to say,
>however, that our message cut through the media clutter to reach the
>largest public ever to learn about how the WTO undermines health and
>environmental standards.
>
>As Dan Seligman told the New York Times, "The creation of the WTO was an
>
>act of pure hubris -- to promote trade by micro managing policies of
>every government on earth. It was only a matter of time before that
>over-ambitious agenda reached a point at which it could go no further."
>(New York Times, Dec. 4, 1999)
>
>Meanwhile, the demonstrators helped forged a new populist coalition that
>
>could permanently shift the politics of trade policy in America and
>around the world. For instance, Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa, Jr.
>made frequent appeals to protect the world's environment in trade
>policy.
> The Sierra Club's Executive Director Carl Pope reciprocated during the
>big Fair Trade rally on Tuesday, Nov. 30. Following Steelworkers
>President George Becker to the speakers' microphone, Pope gave a ringing
>
>endorsement to trade unionism, telling the crowd, "If America didn't
>have
>a steel industry, it would have to invent one just so we could have the
>United Steelworkers of America."
>
>On the streets, a spontaneous call and response chant arose between the
>Teamsters and dozens of activists who were dressed as sea turtles to
>protest a WTO ruling against US sea turtle protections.
>
>"Turtles love Teamsters!" the chant began.
>
>"Teamsters love turtles," the truckdrivers answered.
>
>It doesn't get any better than that.
>
>NEXT STEPS
>
>Over the next year, we must mobilize our new coalition to "fix or nix"
>the WTO. We must also turn the corner on bad trade policies and begin
>advocating positive alternatives of our own. Stay posted for further
>action alerts.
>
>In the meantime, defenders of the free trade status quo have mounted a
>campaign to pin the blame for the Seattle debacle on Clinton and the
>protestors in the streets -- everyone but those who developed the
>hair-brained notion of the WTO in the first place.
>
>Lets fight back with letters to the editor explaining the truth about
>Seattle.
>
>